Tuesday, 11 July 2006

Thousands of genes behave differently in the same organs of males and females, researchers reported, a finding that may help explain why men and women have different responses to drugs and diseases.

Their study of brain, liver, fat and muscle tissue from mice showed that gene expression - the level of activity of a gene - varied greatly according to sex.

The same is almost certainly true of humans, the team at the University of California Los Angeles reported....The smallest differences were in brain tissue, they found.

"We saw striking and measurable differences in more than half of the genes' expression patterns between males and females," said Dr Thomas Drake, a professor of pathology. "We didn't expect that. No one has previously demonstrated this genetic gender gap at such high levels."

Xia Yang, a postdoctoral fellow in cardiology who led the study, said the implications are important.

"Males and females share the same genetic code, but our findings imply that gender regulates how quickly the body can convert DNA to proteins," Yang said in a statement. "This suggests that gender influences how disease develops."

How does this apply to my case? I have absolutely no idea, sorry. And I have the flu, so <insert pithy and insightful comment here> because I'm not quite up to that at the moment.

About Me

Actually, I am a Rocket Scientist.
Also hormonally odd (my blood has 46xy chromosomes anyway) and for most of my life, I looked male, and lived as one, trying to be the best Man a Gal could be. Anyway, in May 2005 that started changing naturally for reasons still unclear, and I'm now Zoe, not Alan : happier and more relaxed not to have to pretend any more.
UPDATE - reason now identified as the 3BHSD form of CAH.

Reviews

This blog, written by a rocket scientist, is a fascinating collection of information, both personal and scientific, regarding intersex, transsexualism and related psychosocial and psychosexual issues....It is erudite and heartfelt. Just read the posts about the passport issue. You won't know whether to laugh, weep or crawl into a ball and rock gently in a corner - an amazing person.- David---The reason I so appreciate bright, perceptive people - as opposed to ideologues whose intelligence does little to illuminate - is that they manage to both instruct and learn with a certain grace. Among such rarities in the transblogosphere is Zoe, whose direct speech and clear humanity always make her worth reading, even if one doesn’t always agree with her every conclusion.- Val---The following is a request for permission to archive your A.E.Brain blog site which we have wanted to do for several years...The Library has traditionally collected items in print, but it is also committed to preserving electronic publications of lasting cultural value....Since (1996) we have been identifying online publications and archiving those that we consider have national significance....We would like to include A.E.Brain blog site in the PANDORA Archive...-Australian National Library